We’re finally on the backside of the cattle cycle. Calf crops are getting smaller, and the inventory of 2019 and 2020 born cattle on feed continues to shrink.
Fifth-generation Nebraska rancher Jaclyn Wilson, and her family, launched an innovative project using advanced technologies to track cattle as verified digital assets.
A decade from now, we might look back at this era as the period that finally propelled innovation and integration of labor resource related technologies.
Beyond critical factors such as health, head count, evenness and flesh that always matter, it has become important to review Process Verified Programs and their role in cultivating more value add.
Genetic progress has helped drive our industry forward and each segment along the value chain has
benefited from advancements in genetics. Have we moved the needle enough with regard to total beef system profitability?
Hide color and breed character are tools currently available to sort stockers, with little information about genetic potential. But is there a role genomics, or DNA, can play for the stocker operator?
There remains much we won’t know about the formidableness of this segment as far as its potential long-term impact on premium groups of cattle from traditional beef production.
Climate change may or may not become a substantial global initiative. Regardless, we can assume it will reach a point where we can no longer ignore our role and place as stakeholders.
As we often find out after the fact, energies dedicated to react and repel tactics tend to be wasted. Consumers will ultimately drive demand for any product.
Currently, residue utilization is limited by access and infrastructure. Good fencing around the available biomass resources still in the field tend to be the greatest barrier. If grazing isn’t an option, what then?
Marketing beef products that carry certain “guarantees” or assurances regarding quality, production standards and resource management will continue to expand.
Simply participating in verified programs such as NHTC (Non-Hormone Treated Cattle), Verified Natural, GAP and a multitude of others, isn’t a guarantee of success or profit.
Sometimes, the slightest of differences between groups of feeder cattle can significantly affect their value when sold as fats. Understanding these subtle nuances can help you more effectively market your future calf crops.
Time and labor resources tend to be some of the biggest challenges faced in production beef agriculture. Technologies that can address both of those key operational elements will eliminate critical efficiency gaps.
Whichever way you look at it, increasing the opportunity for profit or decreasing the risk for loss, having an advanced genetic “scouting report” on feeders has value.
Instead of pointing out what we view as the major millennial flaws in our employee workforce, we need to find ways to cultivate success through the employee talent that is there takes great leadership and tolerance.
Value-added programs don’t necessarily add value to a set baseline price. Rather, they begin by removing some of the discount (risk) that buyers assume exist.
Maintaining a resurgent global trade environment is vital for all of agriculture, and more specifically to this readership, the preservation of current and potential beef export markets.